Disenchik, Aryeh

(1907–1978), journalist, editor, and Zionist activist. Born in Riga, Aryeh Disenchik studied at the local university and then at the school of international commerce in Vienna. He served as the parliamentary correspondent for the Riga newspaper Dos folk and as an editor of the newspapers Morgen post and Ovent post. Active in the Jewish scouting movement, in 1923 he was among the founders of Betar, eventually joining its international leadership in Paris. For a time, he worked as an aide to Vladimir (Ze’ev) Jabotinsky, the leader of Revisionist Zionism.

Disenchik traveled throughout Europe as part of his duties as a Betar leader. With the change of regime in Latvia and the closing of Zionist newspapers in 1934, he worked, for a short time, at the remaining Jewish paper, Haynt, but soon left over ideological differences with the editors who came from the ranks of Agudas Yisroel. In 1935, Disenchik immigrated to Palestine, where he resumed his career as a journalist. From 1945 to 1957, he was the Associated Press correspondent in Tel Aviv. Earlier, in 1948, he had been a founder of the newspaper Ma‘ariv, becoming its chief editor in 1956, a position he held until his retirement in 1974.